http://www.ironman.com/triathlon/organizations/military-championships.aspx
I think this is a awesome idea and a great way to honor service men and women. However, WTC is only allocating 40 slots to this new endeavor. IMO instead of handing slots out like a raffle at a parent teacher conference for five dollars of lunch at the local bistro, like the promotion WTC is doing with LifeTime to win slots to Kona, they should give more slots to the military.
Fine if you really want to give them their own competition, but in no way should military get “special” Kona slots. They are just people doing their job like anyone else. Total BS.
Wonderful! A division for people perpetuating America’s occupation of Iraq. While this sickens me, I have become numb to the way this country defines freedom and democracy. While I am thankful for my freedom, it is sad that it comes at the expense of the exploitation of so many countries and people over the last 150 years. Oh well, maybe a military division will keep more guys out of my age group so that I can get a prize. There’s always a silver lining.
“Military veterans, reservists, retirees and National Guard personnel are not eligible to compete in the IRONMAN Military Division.”
This is sure to piss off the millions of reservists and National Guard personnel who regularly deploy to hot spots around the world. As a retired soldier, it irritates me too.
Wonderful! A division for people perpetuating America’s occupation of Iraq. While this sickens me,…
Last I checked the division is for Active duty military from ALL OVER THE WORLD… Hopefully your triathlon skills are better than your reading comprehension otherwise you don’t need to even worry about how many guys are in your age group.
Additionally, there are many people in the military that are there to do a job… just like anybody else. It is what they do. They are not the ones making all the decisions on where they are sent or for how long… that is the politicians and government. So even if it were solely for US service members, “your division for people perpetuating America’s occupation” may be miscontrued to be for politicians.
Fine if you really want to give them their own competition, but in no way should military get “special” Kona slots. They are just people doing their job like anyone else. Total BS.
The only thing that’s bullshit is your statement. Military should be given seperate Kona slots because that’s what they are chosing to do. It is right to honor men and women in the military.
To say that they are doing their job like anyone else is complete crap. Being in the military is amazingly difficult work and takes dedication and selflessness. Get your head out of your ass and realize that.
Some people will never understand Colin…Yeah it is just another “job” where when you sign on the dotted line you are also signing your life away so that other people can continue to live in our great country, well at least for those of us in the US.
Also, for those of you that are unaware there has been a military division in the past, but it was only for US Military. 2014 was the first year they did not give anyone slots. 2015 you have to qualify for the slots. The slots were hand selected by each branch of service 1 male and 1 female the previous years(minus 2014). Years ago it was 3 men and 2 women, then it slowly dwindled down to where we were in 2013 of 1 male and 1 female.
Yes, I have raced in the military on one of those “freebie” slots, and yes I have also qualified for Kona on my own, so for the person that pointed out there is a silver lining to it, you are correct there.
As for the “Guard / Reserve” thing, I believe that if you are on “Active” status, working on Active orders for the whole year you are eligible for the category, that is one area that may need some clarification. I had several talks with people making the decisions and I was advocating for X amount of duty days in the year to be eligible for the category, but that didn’t end up happening.
Wonderful! A division for people perpetuating America’s occupation of Iraq. While this sickens me, I have become numb to the way this country defines freedom and democracy. While I am thankful for my freedom, it is sad that it comes at the expense of the exploitation of so many countries and people over the last 150 years. Oh well, maybe a military division will keep more guys out of my age group so that I can get a prize. There’s always a silver lining.
The “silver lining” of this particular statement to our servicemen and women is that they may recognize that they do their job so well that many of their countrymen/women have the luxury of having foul attitudes like this.
Well spoken as usual Brad.
I think that one stance with the reserve/guard positioning could be to eliminate confusion with opening it up to all nations military. There are still some countries where everyone is considered to be in the reserves until they reach a certain age or as long as they are a citizen. So from that aspect you would be opening up the “military” division to everyone from that country.
Yes, that is where when you go to all countries the terms “Reserve/Guard” become a very gray area. So that is why I was advocating for X amount of days of service on active duty. So that if a reservist deploys for 3/6/12 months they would still be eligible for the slot. It is something that I will continue to advocate for, even though I am no longer in the military. I have just wanted clear guidelines from the beginning of them eliminating the US Military Division in 2014, so I see this as a step in the right direction. There was just this down year, 2014, where things were all up in the air. I couldn’t even get a list of who was in the “military division” before the race. I think things will be a lot more clear in the future. The other thing that we are advocating for is that if you qualify at a “regular” event but are in the military that you would still be able to race in the military category.
We will see what happens…And back to the person that thinks there need not to be a military category, they might want to brush up there IM / Triathlon history and read about the roots of our sport.
Wonderful! A division for people perpetuating America’s occupation of Iraq. While this sickens me, I have become numb to the way this country defines freedom and democracy. While I am thankful for my freedom, it is sad that it comes at the expense of the exploitation of so many countries and people over the last 150 years. Oh well, maybe a military division will keep more guys out of my age group so that I can get a prize. There’s always a silver lining.
Quoted for posterity.
It is for ALL countries, not just the ‘evil American’s occupying Iraq’. A little ‘reading’ might have saved you some embarrassment?
What is impressive to me, is that our military (US), not only defends our freedoms, such as speech, but it also defends the “reading impaired” to make fools of themselves. Well done, and good luck getting your ‘prize’.
Thanks Brad, and thank you for your service.
What do you attribute the change in direction from? By this, I mean from going from a US military only to a worldwide military inclusion for Kona slots?
Fred D- Because WTC is a global company…They don’t want a “US Military Champs” at the “World Champs”, so they moved to a “World Military Champs”.
Very few people know the history of “Military Triathlon”, in the sense that when you race at the World Military Games (CISM), it is a draft legal race. And the other countries send their Olympians on “military status” to race. Colucci, Raelart’s, Bockel, Frommhold have all raced in the Military Triathlon Champs. So when WTC started talking about going to a “World Military Champs” for IM, I was strongly against it for this very reason. We all know very well that many of those names above are not “active” military, or at least to the best of my knowledge. Luckily, WTC has been very clear that the division is NOT open to professional athletes. But CISM is not like that, anyone can race that has qualified or appointed by their country for the race. The “funny” part is that the US shows up with people of all ranks, Officer to Enlisted, and many of the other countries are in awe that our officers are competing at the level they do, with their full time military jobs. A LOT of the other teams show up with all “low ranking” enlisted people, because in reality, they are not military they are full time athletes.
Probably a little longer of a response than what you expected, but sheds a little more light on the whole “military division” thing.
I always appreciated when local races had military divisions, which in my experience were also separated out of the AG. I took advantage of it when I could, but generally preferred the competition of the AG. More than a special division, I preferred a discount on registration and keep us in the AG.
Read a little history of Ironman before making such a statement. After doing so, maybe you can appreciate what a few guys in the military started.
Fine if you really want to give them their own competition, but in no way should military get “special” Kona slots. They are just people doing their job like anyone else. Total BS.
Will stick my neck out and say I agree with you. Doctors, among others, spend a lot of time doing very important work as well, but they are in no way then more worthy of a Kona slot because of it. I don’t care if there is a military division or not Kona already has such a wide array of qualifying possibilities that it doesn’t matter at this point however to suggest that the perceived importance or time commitment of a job makes one more deserving of a slot is ludicrous.
Read a little history of Ironman before making such a statement. After doing so, maybe you can appreciate what a few guys in the military started.
And what if it had been started by a bunch of accountants?
Fine if you really want to give them their own competition, but in no way should military get “special” Kona slots. They are just people doing their job like anyone else. Total BS.
Just a job? Maybe… but them doing their job allows me to do mine. I think this is a great idea.
Wow, there are really a lot of unhappy people on the board. Who could this be something to bitch about?
My “PJ” buddies would love to talk to some of these wieners.
Wonderful! A division for people perpetuating America’s occupation of Iraq.
They already had one for that: The CEO division.